Thanksgiving and 6 birthdays

After a bummer six months, I told the kids I was ready to have Thanksgiving at our house and also to celebrate the 6 birthdays our family has had since September. I missed Isabella's birthday in July because of being in the hospital; but I was able to celebrate it in August at Gabi's birthday party. We took care of Ryan's birthday at the same time. Little did I know that I would be in the hospital for Braydon's birthday in September (I was in there for Kaylin's birthday too and had to send my birthday wishes to her from the hospital). I missed Mark's birthday; wished Rich a happy 40th birthday on October 12th, and then on my birthday, only being home for three weeks from surgery, I didn't feel like doing much for my birthday. In November we have Holli's, Chad's, and Shannon's birthdays and the time had come for six birthday celebrations along with celebrating Thanksgiving.

What a Thanksgiving this year. There were 22 of us as we added 3 to our family...Nick, Erin and Carolyn Peters. They are now officially "adopted" members of our family gatherings. But, nobody could replace our Brown family in Vegas. They had Thanksgiving by themselves this year. We missed them so much. The cooking arrangements were different as everyone took an assignment. This year all I did was make the stuffing Wednesday evening just like my mom taught me, put it in the refrigerator, and Thursday morning stuffed the 23 pound turkey and put it in the oven. Because everybody else was doing the rest of the cooking, I was able to watch my Dallas Cowboys play in an exciting win.

When The Johnsons arrived at the house, Braydon and Isabella arrived in their Thanksgiving garb that Maren made. Somehow, all of the other little turkeys escaped my camera. Maren made the cutest shirts. I will have to tell all the girls to post pictures on their blogs.
Can you tell who Isabella looks like? And those blue eyes, just like her Papa and her Great Grandpa Eyrich.The Johnson family is living proof that people do get sleepy from eating turkey!
And Kyle wants to know where all the food is. Don't you love his hair? My nephew Matt had platinum blonde hair and every time I see baby Kyle I think of Matt.
The boys, Marshall, Nick, and Chad just chillin' after that big meal.
Now as I look at the table, somehow all the guys ended up together. What's with that?
No, this is not a crooked picture of Hayes. He asked me to take his picture this way.
Eric was teasing the heck out of Drake. I wish I had this on video as Drake has the cutest giggle.
Kyle, Holli and Gabi just hanging out after eating two Thanksgiving dinners. They had been to Buna earlier with Holli's family.
Here are the members of the six birthdays club..me, Chad, Shannon, Holli, Mark and Braydon.
Isabella loved the cooler full of ice. She and Carolyn had red hands from sticking their hands in the ice so much. The look on Isabella's face is one of "oh please mommy don't make me close the cooler" (which is exactly what Maren was telling Isabella to do). Isabella was about to cry.
Chad loves musicals, which he gets from me and my upbringing. My parents had all the records (yes records, not CDs) of the current musicals. When I saw the 50th anniversary edition of "West Side Story" that came out, I knew Chad would love it. Can you tell by his face?
Gabi wanted to be the helper and help Holli with her present. When you see the next picture of Shannon, you will see what the girls got from us for their birthdays.
Do you think Shannon likes hers? Holli's obviously says Petersen, Kyle and Holli Est. 2004. And theirs is done in green.
And, this is what I received for my birthday. I absolutely love it. In fact, I treasure it.

Thank you to all for a great Thanksgiving and a great birthday.